Professor E M P Ekanayake assumed duties as the 5th Vice-Chancellor of the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka (WUSL) on 25th May 2017. He has over 30 years of service as an academic (Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor) including 20 years of administrative experience in the university system.

Prof. Ekanayake obtained the B.Sc. (Hons.) Degree in Mathematics from the University of Kelaniya in 1986 and thereafter, proceeded to Kyushu University of Japan where he obtained the M.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He was also a Postgraduate Fellow of the University of Oxford, U.K in 2001.

Prof. Ekanayake started his career in the university service as an Assistant Lecturer in Mathematics in 1987 at the University of Ruhuna. After obtaining his postgraduate qualifications, Prof. Ekanayake returned to the University of Ruhuna where he was promoted to Senior Lecturer (Grade II) in Mathematics in 1994. In 1996 he joined then Wayamba Campus of the Rajarata University as a Senior Lecturer (Grade II) in Mathematical Sciences. With the establishment of the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka in 1996 he continued to serve in the Department of Mathematical Sciences and became a Senior Lecturer (Grade I). From 2015 onwards he is functioning as an Associate Professor of the Department of Mathematical Sciences.

He has also worked as the Proctor of the University for student discipline and was the Founder President of the Kuliyapitiya University Teachers’ Association.

Prof. Ekanayake is a pioneer of then Wayamba Campus of the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka which is now the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka. He was involved in the transition and development of the new University in his capacity as an academic as well as an administrator and a Member of the Senate and the Council. He was elected five times uncontested as the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences of the Wayamba University and steered the development of the Faculty initiated with 120 students, 14 staff members, 1 degree programme and 3 Departments of Study into the level of 526 students, 70 staff members and 10 degree programmes offered by 7 Departments of Study. He was responsible for the development of the infrastructure of the Faculty from makeshift buildings into the modern Faculty complex of today. Under his leadership, the Faculty has been able to maintain the employability rate of the graduates of the Faculty at over 80%.

Professor Ekanayake can also be considered a pioneer in establishing new Departments of Study and introducing new degree programmes under the Technology Stream all of which were initiated at the Faculty of Applied Sciences in the first instance. He led a team of academics to develop the proposal for the establishment of the Faculty of Technology which absorbed the Departments created under the Faculty of Applied Sciences.

In the establishment of the Faculty of Medicine of the WUSL, credit goes to Prof. Ekanayake in writing a comprehensive proposal which was approved by the University Grants Commission, and today construction work of the Faculty of Medicine is in progress and arrangements are being made to admit the first batch of 75 students from the A/L results of 2017.

As the Chairman or member of a number of Senate and Council Sub-Committees, curriculum revision committees, review panels, boards of study etc. Prof. Ekanayake’s contribution to the development of the WUSL has been immense.